It’s Opening Day for Ballplayers and Bike Riders!

This weekend a scene takes place in just about every small town all over America.  It is the opening of the Little League baseball season.  Most leagues will have the usual: the guest speakers, the playing of the National Anthem, the ceremonial throwing out of the first pitch and the reciting of the Little League Pledge.  What they all will have is the Parade of Teams.  A truly unique snapshot of eager youngsters dressed in brand new uniforms marching across the diamond eager to emulate their big league heroes. 

 

Little League baseball began as the idea of Carl Stotz, a resident of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In 1939 Mr. Stotz rounded up a group of neighborhood kids and played baseball using a variety of field dimensions and rules variations. With his two nephews being part of his experiment, Stotz realized he was onto something as the boys seemed to really take to the idea of playing organized games.   Stotz knew at this point he could find enough boys to fill out rosters for three teams.  He also secured sponsors for each outfit: Lycoming Dairy, Lundy Lumber and Jumbo Pretzel.  Stotz, the two other team managers and each of their wives created a board of directors and “Little League” was born.

Little League is just that, a smaller version of the real thing which is why leagues have dugouts, fenced-in fields (at the older age group levels of play), advertising, and concession stands.  Little League came about during the baby boom and the suburbanization of America.  It was also at this time the first bike boom hit the U.S.  With the postwar economy exploding people were buying homes outside of cities, building neighborhoods and enjoying good incomes.  The bicycle was part of this new way of living.  Kids, no longer living in cities within walking distance of things, needed two wheels to get around.  Those first bikes were cruisers and they sold well enough in the 1930s and 40s but the numbers skyrocketed in the 50s. These were the bikes of the neighborhood--and also of that long lost American: the paperboy.  The big heavy bikes (some approaching 50 lbs) had fenders, chunky frames, fat tires, good saddles and a rack for carrying stuff.  And oftentimes that rack held a baseball mitt as the bike took its rider to the ball field.

In 1957 Little League decided to crown state champions. Today, each state divides their leagues into districts and district winners play in a round robin tournament to determine a state champion.  State champs move on to eight regional tournaments and those tournament champions advance to the Little League World Series.

Today, over 2.3 million children play Little League baseball in 16 distinct geographic regions – eight national regions and eight international.  Each August a world champion is crowned at Howard J. Lamade Stadium (pictured) in South Williamsport.   Opened in 1959, the stadium holds 40,000 fans, most sitting on the grass behind the outfield wall.

The bicycle still carries many Little Leaguers to ball fields all over the country continuing a long American tradition.  Visit our website at www.stickybottleteam.net for bike reviews, product reviews and our newest feature--the Craft Beer of the Week.